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abbykruth's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
2.5
This book was interesting enough, but I feel like everything in it should be taken with a grain of salt. There were claims made without any sources to make them up, and the source list at the back of the book was...concerningly short, considering all the topics talked about. Quite a few instances of archaic and not politically correct language on the part of the author (not when quoting from someone else). Overall, meh - interested more in the secret societies or history of witchcraft aspects, and the author pretty much only talked about Satanism...the book read like a long essay with random sections about why Satanism isn't bad 🤷
Content Warnings
Minor: Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, and Mental illness
sophie_florence's review against another edition
1.5
This is the first book I have read on this subject, and I was unfortunately extremely disappointed.
This book was superficial, presented ideas as facts with absolutely no references or back up material, and was riddled with an inconsistent smattering of frankly bizarre value judgements. Every twenty to thirty pages I was treated to a “burn” of a person or group that reads like an attempt at a stand up comedy zinger. This included comments on music taste.
Many times in this book Roland provides “quotes” but it is entirely unclear what source he got the quote from or what context it appears in. Imagine my terrible smugness when I got to the end of this book thinking to myself “what’s this guy’s references? Wikipedia?” only to turn the page and see a wikipedia page is legitimately mentioned in the acknowledgment section as a resource. (Yes, the reference list is an “acknowledgements” list.)
All that being said, I have to begrudgingly admit that its bizarreness and awfulness did make for an engaging read and it served its purpose of being an entryway into a subject I don’t know a lot about (I say through gritted teeth.) I do, however, know to take any of the facts or ideas in this book with a lump of salt.
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